Equipment for the production of UD tapes

Meltimpregnation is based on the infiltration of unidirectionally oriented reinforcing fibers using plasticized thermoplastic polymers. To do this, it is first necessary to align and spread the required fiber rovings. Downstream the fibers are impregnated with matrix in the wetting nozzle. After passing through the nozzle, the semi-finished products are cooled using a two-roll calender (smoothing unit) and molded close to the final contour. The edges are  trimmed and the semi-finished products are assembled on winding cores.

The pilot-scale tape line has a tape production width of 500 mm. Thanks to the modular process design, it can be adapted to different fiber matrix systems for tape production. Appropriately dimensioned creels also allow the use of reinforcement materials of different yarn thicknesses. This means that important aspects of material selection and subsequent issues such as material usage costs can be efficiently incorporated into the tape process. 

Inline measurement technology:

• Inline thickness measurement over the entire length of the tape
• Camera inspection system for recording the spreading quality before fiber impregnation and the tape quality after passing through the impregnation nozzle
• Inline thermography system for detecting fiber gaps and defects in the UD tape with position detection on the taper roll